Wednesday, April 16

ESPN buries Sonics story--Are they bowing to NBA?

Not to go all conspiracy theory on you, but did anyone else notice how ESPN suddenly dropped their poll on where the Sonics should play next year? Could this be because Seattle was getting 80 percent of the vote?

This is pure speculation of course, but do you think the NBA has been putting pressure on ESPN (who has broadcast rights to the NBA) to bury any pro-Seattle Sonics stories? Judging by the lack of front-page stories about Bennett's e-mails and the Schultz lawsuit, it sure seems to be the case.

8 comments:

So...in related news, I just found the poll. They moved it to the Outside the Lines homepage. I just watched the episode from today on my DVR and it showed ESPN.com after the Sonics story and directed you to their page. So, I just went there and...lo and behold...there is the poll. Link below.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/index

I don't take back my conspiracy-accusations though, they still removed it from the front page and hid it away on a page no one goes to. The vote is still 70-30 with over 49,000 votes cast.

I think this is the problem when you have a sports journalism entity (ESPN.com) that is also in the business of broadcasting playoff games for on of the leagues that they cover (NBA). It is in the best interest for ESPN and ABC to have has as much excitement for the playoffs as possible, and it seems obvious that any talk about the Sonics relocation dampers that.

As a Sonic fan, I hope it does hamper the enthusiasm, and as many people as possible boycott NBA games altogether. ESPN certainly would lose money in that scenario, so you see why they'd prefer to table the Sonics talk, at least until the playoffs are over.

Who immediately demands a trade.Wonder if Stern won't be too tied up in court to emcee this year's draft.Seriously, the Sonics have two years left on their lease, and if you think the city will accept a buyout after all that has been revealed now, you're crazy. Just in case, you might want to get a receipt when you order season tickets.

The truth is, the NBA just had one of the most exciting regular seasons ever and is going to the playoffs with genuine excitement--and for the rest of the non-Seattle country, THAT'S what they want to watch/read/talk about.

Legal machinations? Threats and counter threats from opportunistic politicians, duplicitous fat cat owners, and a league commissioner who reminds me most of the head of OCP in Robocop 2? Board of Governors voting results?

...none of that compares to the on-court excitement of Kobe, Amare, LeBron, etc.

And THAT is what makes our situation here in Seattle even worse than we think it is...because not only are we losing our team...but we're losing our access to an entire league's worth of excitement.